The present invention relates to cooling systems, and more specifically, to a cooling system, which uses airflow to cool electronic components.
Electronic components in devices consume power in order to function. The electronic components, when operating, may generate heat. Further, the functioning of such electronic components may degrade or fault when the electronic components are above certain operating temperature parameters. Therefore, active cooling of electronic components, such as memory modules (e.g., dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs)) in computing devices, may be used to ensure the electronic components stay within the operating temperature parameters.
Such cooling of electronic components may be performed using various techniques and systems, including heat exchangers, liquid cooling, air cooling, etc. Air cooling may be beneficial in certain circumstances as the components needed to provide airflow (e.g., a fan, blower, etc.) may be easier to maintain and cost less than components used for other cooling methods. However, merely moving air across electronic components may not be sufficient to cool the electronic components efficiently.
In particular, the electronic components may be arranged in an enclosure. The enclosure may limit the supply of air from outside the enclosure to inside the enclosure. Therefore, the air moved over some of the electronic components in the enclosure may be recycled air that has already been heated by other electronic components. For example, multiple electronic components in the enclosure may need to be cooled, and as the air moves across some of the components it may rise in temperature before reaching other components, or be impeded from reaching other components. Accordingly, the airflow over certain electronic components may include warmer air and/or less air, which may not effectively cool the electronic components.